Chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer: a review

Lung cancer, of which non-small cell carcinoma is the most common, has been a significant therapeutic challenge for decades and will remain so for decades to come. Despite its prevalence, progress in the management of non-small cell lung cancer has been relatively slow. This is in part due to the pessimism of most physicians treating this disease, which has resulted in a relatively lackadaisical attitude with regards to clinical trials when compared to other solid tumours like breast or colorectal cancers. Nevertheless, the past decade has seen significant progress, specifically with regards to the management of locally advanced disease. Chemotherapy, though shown to be biologically active in non-small cell lung cancer, is considered an ineffective palliative tool in the setting of metastatic disease due to its toxicities and the "less than encouraging" response rates generated by the cisplatin-based combination regimen which is generally considered to be the most active currently available. The advent of new active agents such as paclitaxel and vinorelbine which are potentially less toxic may change this view. Conversely, the response rate of locally advanced disease to chemotherapy is significantly higher and this has resulted in numerous multimodality trials of neoadjuvant chemotherapy prior to surgery and/or radiation. To date, a number of randomised trials have shown that this approach can result in significant survival benefit for patients with locally advanced disease. An alternative approach makes use of the potential synergism between certain chemotherapeutic agents (such as cisplatin) and radiation when used concurrently. However, data on concurrent chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced disease have been largely based on single-arm studies and are inconclusive. Three randomised trials on concurrent chemoradiotherapy have been shown benefit for the use of combined modality in locally advanced disease. Hence, treatment of locally advanced disease should include chemotherapy as part of the combined modality approach. However, the optimal sequencing of these modalities would require well-designed randomised trials to determine.     

Properties of whole saliva and dental plaque in relation to 40-month consumption of chewing gums containing xylitol, sorbitol of sucrose

The concern with nursing research in the future work of nurse graduates. Expectations from the viewpoint of the nurse researcher. Keeping in mind the concerns which occupy nurse researchers now and in the future, expectations are raised of the graduates of degree programmes in nursing science which are now also being established in the Federal Republic of Germany. This takes into account the structurally determined areas of self determined action in new fields of professional practice. Nurse graduates will be seen as "change agents" in their future areas of work and will have three essential aspects of involvement with nursing research: 1. they themselves will conduct research 2. they will receive, put into practice and transmit results of nursing research 3. they will initiate and commission nursing research projects. According to the broad topics of nursing research, requirements for nurses to act as professionals in their new working fields are formulated referring to the given structural conditions in Germany.     

新型锁相环在频率跟踪技术中的研究

在比较电力系统频率跟踪技术中软硬件同步优缺点的基础上,提出了一种基于FPGA的全数字锁相环(ADPLL)电路实现电力系统频率跟踪的技术;将FPGA技术运用于同步跟踪技术中,解决了软硬同步方法中的各个不足之处;全数字锁相环电路采用VHDL语言和FPGA设计,仿真波形和实验结果表明,该电路能够很好地跟踪电网频率的实时变化,相位误差仅为0.1%,频率测量误差仅为0.06%,实现了同频率同相位的锁定;速度快、精度高;对电网的谐波计算有较大的实际意义.     

菏泽民俗文化符号在旅游商品转化中的应用

本文从旅游商品的概念和山东菏泽地域文化资源现状出发,探讨了菏泽民俗文化旅游商品的现状,并针对菏泽旅游商品研发存在的问题,从菏泽地域文化的挖掘及其在旅游商品的转化方式上进行了分析,提出了民俗文化旅游纪念品开发的对策,以期推动民俗文化产业和旅游产业的健康发展。     

A proposal for student modeling based on ontologies and diagnosis rules

The advances in the educational field and the high complexity of student modeling have provoked it to be one of the aspects more investigated in Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs). The Student Models (SMs) should not only represent the student’s knowledge, but rather they should reflect, as faithfully as possible, the student’s reasoning process. To facilitate this goal, in this article a new approach to student modeling is proposed that benefits from the advantages of Ontological Engineering, advancing in the pursue of a more granular and complete knowledge representation. It’s focused, mainly, on the SM cognitive diagnosis process, and we present a method providing a rich diagnosis about the student’s knowledge state – especially, about the state of learning objectives reached or not. The main goal is to achieve SMs with a good adaptability to the student’s features and a high flexibility for its integration in varied ITSs.     

基于ZigBee的多机器人通信系统的设计

为解决多机器人协作的问题,设计了可以让机器人之间基于ZigBee网络进行通信的通信方案。机器人硬件系统中引入了ZigBee节点,多个机器人依赖ZigBee形成一个星型网络,每个机器人可以通过中心节点保持通信。实验结果表明,机器人之间可以可靠地进行通信,能够显著提高机器人的工作效率。     

高灵敏巨磁阻抗小型磁传感器研制

利用单辊快淬法制备了CoFeNiSiB非晶薄带,经过400 A/mm2电流密度、20 ms脉冲间隔条件下的脉冲退火后具有较好的弱磁场灵敏性能.以该带材为磁敏材料,基于纵向驱动方式研制了一种巨磁阻抗(GMI)磁传感器,该磁传感器尺寸小、灵敏度高、频率响应好,±0.05 mT弱磁场范围内灵敏度可达到44.15 V/mT,在高灵敏度小型磁传感器领域具有较大的应用潜力.     

How useful are strategic plans for information systems?

Although much research has been done in the area of strategic planning for information systems (IS), relatively less research has focused on the output of the IS planning process, namely, the IS plan. This paper examines the usefulness of IS plans through a field survey of 136 IS executives. Results indicate that IS plans are generally perceived to be useful for supporting business objectives, improving systems integration, exploiting information technology (IT) for competitive advantage, and prioritising IS development projects. Conversely, IS plans are perceived to be less useful for clarifying the role of IS, evaluating IS performance, anticipating surprises and crisis, and adapting to unanticipated situations. Implications of these results are discussed.     

Improved MCMAC with momentum, neighborhood, and averagedtrapezoidal output

An improved modified cerebellar articulation controller (MCMAC) neural control algorithm with better learning and recall processes using momentum, neighborhood learning, and averaged trapezoidal output, is proposed in this paper. The learning and recall processes of MCMAC are investigated using the characteristic surface of MCMAC and the control action exerted in controlling a continuously variable transmission (CVT). Extensive experimental results demonstrate a significant improvement with reduced training time and an extended range of trained MCMAC cells. The improvement in recall process using the averaged trapezoidal output (MCMAC-ATO) are contrasted against the original MCMAC using the square of the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. Experimental results show that the new recall process has significantly reduced the fluctuations in the control action of the MCMAC and addressed partially the problem associated with the resolution of the MCMAC memory array.     

Characteristics and usage patterns of older people in a 3D online multi-user virtual environment

3D online multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) have a lot of potential in supporting older people in their daily lives, yet little research has been conducted to explore how older people engage with this type of technology. This paper aims to investigate the characteristics, user groups and activity patterns (particularly social networks and gift giving behaviour) of older users within a 3D online multi-user virtual environment. Data from approximately 5000 online user profiles of older and younger users from a 3D MUVE, namely IMVU, was collected for analysis. Overall, we identified several distinct patterns of use (e.g. size of social ties, level of reciprocity, etc.) among older users when compared with younger users. We also found that despite the capabilities of 3D MUVEs to provide the users immersion in alternative realities, a feature well embraced by younger users in this study, older users seemed more interested in activities which serve as an extension to their physical life.